Basement!

[Dr_Strangelove]

That being said, when we remodel the basement, I think we are going to go with stained and polished concrete for the floor, and then use several area rugs.

20161231_154551.jpg

Stained concrete is gorgeous but I'll give you a heads up that especially in a basement it can drastically change the acoustics of the space, sometimes even an echo. Talk to your contractor about this and see if it's a concern for your house. I'm no expert by any means. But I know two people that have done this in Vegas and have gotten special ceiling tiles to kill echo and added noise travel. Concrete floors are very popular here because they are cool in summer.

[FRUNKenstein]

Thanks for the heads up. It will probably be a year at least before we get to the basement as we will do it last.

[DTMiller]

Here's a rough outline of what we have in mind for the rest of the space. Putting bathroom fixtures where they exist results in this bathroom layout which seems super wasteful.

Plan1.JPG (137.36 KiB) Viewed 2363 times

[gnat]

Yeah that looks like a terrible layout. Also that wet bar is going to be trouble for you. You should move that so it's sink is on the opposite wall of the bathroom vanity.

Any of your neighbors with the same model house get their basement finished by the builder? Maybe you can use them as a guide to how the space was supposed to work.

[DTMiller]

There's a drain already in that corner of the basement and the water supply is in the closet immediately adjacent.

[gnat]

Well that wasn't in the sketch you gave us

[DTMiller]

Well that wasn't in the sketch you gave us

My questions are about the bathroom... The rest of it makes SOME sense. And I'm sure there will be changes along the way. We originally considered putting a wet bar along the wall to the bathroom but the placement isn't making sense.

I'm waiting for an actual expert to be like, hey dipshit, it works like this and blow my mind.

[FRUNKenstein]

How about if you moved all 3 drains to the right about 5 feet so that your bathroom was up against the basement wall on the right, but with the shower drain, toilet drain and sink drain on the left side of the bathroom? So, the door is in the same place. The shower moves to the space where you now show a storage closet. You extend the wall that is currently shown dividing the shower and closet all the way to just left of where the door is now. The sink and terlet sit along that wall.

[FRUNKenstein]

The machines are against me - I had to literally white out, cut and paste the below together. And then after scanning it and converting to jpg, jpf and png, the website still gives me an error when trying to upload. So, here's a pdf version:

Frunk basement plan, 2020-1-22.pdf

(227.28 KiB) Downloaded 118 times

And here's a picture of of it:

I know you said without moving the drains, but moving those drains that small distance can't cost more than $2,000. That would give you a very nice layout.

[DTMiller]

That's so obviously the right answer (or shift it against the stairs) and I don't know why the rough ins weren't put in an arrangement that would be cut and dry and why is life so unfair.

Obviously they can be moved but I'm envisioning this as a mostly DIY project (I'm learning many many things!) and was hoping to leave the professional help to drywall and countertops.

Basically, I'm frustrated that what I have for years thought was already done doesn't appear to have been thought through at all. Like, why not a random pipe 4 feet from those, just for giggles?